Digital BW, The Print

This thing about carts and Epson... I can think of examples of rights  
on both sides of the question.  Yes, Epson has the right to protect  
its R&D investment.  On the other hand, there are notable examples of  
hardware products which are not proprietarily linked to consumables.   
Cars, for instance.  Car manufacturers are not in the gas business.   
You do not have to put GM gas in your Chevy, or wouldn't, if it  
existed.  Cameras.  Kokak could have insisted that only Kodak film be  
used in its cameras.  Record players, CD players... you're not  
limited to CDs made by the player's company.  What about paper?  If  
Epson can squawk about ink, what about paper?  Isn't that the same  
type of thing?  And what about somebody like Cone, who is doing  
something substantially different from what Epson does?  Yes, recent  
Epson printers address the b&w issue, but they do it differently from  
what Cone does.  Epson doesn't have a dedicated grayscale inkset.  I  
could see Epson's point better if third parties were simply copying  
Epson dye ink, for instance, and selling it cheaper.  But what about  
making a better mousetrap?  Seems like anybody should have the right  
to make a better mousetrap.  I don't buy third party ink because it's  
cheaper; I buy it because it either does something different, or  
because it does it better.  Or so I hope.  And finally, what about  
licensing?  Issue licenses.  You want to use only Epson ink, you  
don't need a license.  You want to use a third party ink, you buy a  
license, get an iLok dongle, the license goes on that, and you use  
whatever ink you want.  You're happy, although it would cost more,  
and Epson's happy because they get a taste.

I'll write a letter, but even if it gets to Bush I can just see that  
dumb arrogant sonofabitch being all proud of his not knowing anything  
about the issues of some damn inkjet printers- let alone fine art and  
its practitioners- and siding with Epson- it's a big company, after all.

James
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